Springfield's nearest neighbouring town is Shelbyville. There is strong rivalry between the towns, dating back to the rivalry between their founders—Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan. Manhattan wanted to found a city where men were free to marry their cousins, but Springfield refused to allow it, so Shelbyville was founded as a rival town.[6] The story of the dispute between Jebediah Springfield and Shelbyville Manhattan contains faint references to the historical stories of the deal between Asa Lovejoy and William Overton to file a land claim, and the dispute between Lovejoy and Francis W. Pettygrove over the name of Portland, Oregon.
Springfield is an ever growing city, despite all the disasters that happen in the town.

Contents

History

The Statue of Jebediah Springfield

Springfield originally existed before 1648 as Sprynge-Fielde, founder and foundation period unknown.

In its early days, the city was the target of many Native American Indian raids, and to this day many forts and trading posts remain (including Fort Springfield and Fort Sensible). It was also the site of two battles during the American Civil War.

The second (or official) founder of Springfield was pioneer Jebediah Springfield, widely celebrated in the town as a brave and proud American hero. He famously once killed a bear with his bare hands, and this deed is immortalized in a bronze statue in front of the city hall. However, revisionist historians have since determined that the bear in fact probably killed Springfield, and not vice-versa. The town motto "a noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" is attributed to Jebediah. Lisa Simpson later discovered that Jebediah Springfield was in fact Hans Sprungfeld, a murderous pirate and enemy of George Washington, but eventually decided that the myth of Springfield should be preserved for the inspiration it gives to people and did not reveal her findings.[7]

During the early 1900s, Springfield started a holiday named "Whacking Day" with the intention of beating up Irish immigrants in Springfield, and eventually transformed into an event where Springfield's denizens beat several snakes to death. In the mid-20th century, the city reached perhaps the pinnacle of its success when it became the home of the Aquacar, a car which could be driven in water like a boat. At this point, the city's streets were literally paved with gold. But unfortunately, this economy collapsed when it was discovered that the Aquacar was prone to spontaneous explosion after 600 miles and/or knots.[8] The town has never really recovered from this tragedy (the gold was reportedly shipped to the Sultan of Brunei to encase one of his many elephant herds), but some heavy industry remains in the town, including factories for Ah, Fudge! chocolate, fireworks, candy, children's cartoons, toys, Spirographs, crackers, peanuts, fake vomit, pillows, apple cider, and boxes, as well as a steel mill.

During Homer Simpson's tenure as Springfield's Sanitation Commissioner, however, the whole town was relocated "five miles down the road" and reformed, as the previous location had become flooded with garbage and waste due to Homer's allowing other cities to dump their garbage into the mines that run under the town. Mysteriously, the move was only mentioned once: when Lisa remarked with surprise that they even allowed the casino to come with them when they moved the town while watching its demolition.[9]

Springfield was nearly chosen as the host for the Summer Olympic Games, but Bart Simpson's antics angered representatives from the IOC.[10] It was also nearly awarded an NFL franchise team, The Springfield Meltdowns, but Abraham Simpson attacked the commissioner - mistaking him for a burglar - while he was trying to use the Simpsons' phone.

Bart Simpson once accidentally mooned the U.S. flag, and the Simpsons appeared on a talk show to explain the matter. However, the show's host made it appear that Springfield hates America. When the rest of the U.S. reciprocated this loathing, Mayor Quimby changed the name of Springfield to "Liberty-Ville". An enormous patriotic craze ensued, wherein all items were priced at $ 17.76, even houses.[11]

The Military once invaded Springfield despite it being an American city due to Homer and his OPNOR unit going A.W.O.L. The colonel placed the town under martial law after Homer went into hiding, and started rounding up people who were either fat, bald, or had ever laughed at the antics of Homer Simpson. He eventually surrendered after Springfield managed to spike the towns resorvoir with alcohol, which caused him and his unit to go into a drunken stupor and wake up the next morning with a horrible hangover, although under the condition that Homer finish up his line of duty by becoming an Army Recruiter.

At one point in the town's history, gambling was legalized due to an economic slump. To attract more people into the town, Springfield legalized gay marriage. The majority of the populace is also quite horrible at paying tax returns, with the majority of the population waiting until the last possible day to file their tax returns as evidenced by the huge amount of lines at the Post Office on Tax Day, with some even mistaking it for a Metallica concert line, some hiring accountants who are just as bad as themselves in regards to paying taxes on time, and some even falsifying many of their actual expenditures while undergoing a last minute rundown on tax returns, misshaping the envelope containing the tax returns, and eventually being arrested by the FBI/IRS for severe audits.[12]

Trappuccino

Lisa Simpson and Colin spearheaded an effort to clean Lake Springfield, which was heavily polluted. After a town-wide cleanup, the lake was polluted again single handedly by Homer Simpson, who dumped a large silo of "pig crap" into the lake, polluting it to unsurpassed levels. To keep the pollution from spreading to other towns, Russ Cargill, head of the EPA, convinced President Arnold Schwarzenegger to seal Springfield inside a gigantic dome (built by a company owned by Cargill).

During that time, the town fell into ruin and was plagued by power shortages (Mr. Burns refused to give free power) and lack of supplies. The town was trapped under the dome for more than ninety-three days. The dome was later destroyed by Homer and Bart Simpson, and the town was repaired and rebuilt.

Later History

Springfield eventually fell into a massive economic crisis that resulted in several large cutbacks, as well as forcing several of the citizens to move to Detroit to find better job opportunities.

Geography

Springfield's geography includes big mountains, maybe part of Rocky Mountains, and a lot of hills, gorges, giant redwood trees, a desert, a forest, lakes, rivers and a volcano. It is located on the coast of a large body of water, possibly an ocean. It has also been stated that "West Springfield" is 3 times the size of Texas, and looks exactly like Texas in shape.

The City is claimed by Ned Flanders to be boarderd by the states of Ohio, Nevada, Maine, and Kentucky. The proof of this was shown to you in The Simpsons Movie during Flanders' and Bart's hike. This is geographically impossible as only Ohio and Kentucky share borders and Nevada being on the other side of the country from the other three.

However in other episodes Springfield is shown to be within driving distance from Washington D.C. and New York

Enviroment

Climate

Springfield is located in an area that receives rain and snow. Most of the time the skies are blue and mostly sunny.

Springfield is also subject to a number of natural disasters including avalanches, earthquakes, acid rain, floods, hurricanes, lightning strikes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions.

Being situated in a valley, Springfield likely boasts a humid-subtropical climate, due to panic during snow storms as suggested in the Season 4 episode Mr. Plow. In the episode Hurricane Neddy, Hurricane Barbara strikes in Springfield, and destroys Ned Flanders' home. All of Springfield is panicking, suggesting that hurricanes are rare in the city.

In Brawl In The Family, there is an acid rainstorm in Springfield, caused by The Evil Republican Party, attempting to make caring for the environment illegal.

Pollution

Visitors from elsewhere are advised to constantly wear radiation suits and carry Geiger counters, since the city is perhaps the most radioactive in the U.S. This is because the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant was built during an incredibly lax period for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in which the plant's nuclear core was surrounded not by several layers of protective concrete and graphite but by ordinary plaster with a horseshoe hanging from a nail. Also, management apparently gives employees benefits for storing nuclear waste in buildings; in some episodes, barrels of waste have been seen in the Simpsons' basement. Also perhaps due to this, the book reports that international law forbids shipping produce from Springfield; those who do venture into a local supermarket or farmer's market may find that it gives off a barely audible hum. Springfield is also "proudly" home to the state's largest tire fire, which has been continuously burning for approximately 42 years, which does nothing to improve the air quality.

Springfieldians have a very uncaring attitude towards the environment. The Springfield Shopper is proud of the fact that they use absolutely no recycled material in their paper. Even the mention of the word can cause one of the town residents to pass out from boredom, or at least slam the door in the face of plucky little girls concerned about the state of their town without a second thought, or even throw anything they can get their hands on at the Green Day raft just for saying that they wanted to talk about it. In fact, the only time they even seemed to care is literally when they drink it.

There have also been instances of accidental pollution, such as when Captain Horatio McCallister once crashed an oil tanker around the Springfield coast in a drunken stupor. McCallister also, while still drunk, seemed to think there was no way out of the predicament until he suggested to a newscaster to take the blame for him in the middle of a live broadcast.

The city's Main Street is in a pitiful state of disrepair, owing to citizens driving along it while carrying excessively heavy weights and leaving snow chains on their tires after the snow has melted. Some of the potholes have become so wide that entire cars and trucks can (and have) fallen into them.

People and culture

The geographic location of Springfield is never stated, but Springfield is generally considered to depict, in a lampooning manner, "bread-and-butter" Middle America, culturally somewhere between a suburb and a small town. Springfieldians are not, for the most part, cosmopolitan, and most are of lower-middle to middle income.

The "small-town nastiness" of Springfield is made evident by a benighted tradition of "snake-whacking" whereby, annually, Springfieldians bludgeon snakes to death. Lisa Simpson, disgusted by this activity, encourages the people of Springfield to quit the tradition with the aid of soul singer Barry White, as well as Bart Simpson, the latter of whom exposed that the holiday actually started as an excuse to beat up the Irish.

Springfieldians have a very bad reputation. As described by Dr. Hibbert, it is a town where the smartest have no power and the stupidest run everything. A fairly accurate statement considering that the offices of police chief and mayor respectively are run by clearly incompetent and corrupt individuals, those few who are competent in official positions are soon replaced by other incompetents, such as former trash commissioner Ray Patterson being kicked out of office to be replaced by Homer Simpson. TIME magazine once did a cover story on Springfield entitled "America's Worst City," and Newsweek has referred to the city as "America's Crud Bucket," the town actually has a billboard saying it is the "Meanest town in America." Most citizens are very stupid, overweight, and also quick to anger, though it should be noted that Shelbyville residents are even stupider and more backwards. One example of the citizens' gross stupidity is when they once managed to re-elect Quimby in a landslide, despite admitting in a stump speech that he had used the towns treasury to fund the murder of his enemies, simply because he paraphrased Gabbo's trademark line "I'm a bad widdle boy."[14] There is a riot almost every month. A major of the time, the Springfieldians are shown to be especially fair-weather and fickle towards the Simpson Family, even by close friends and other family members. Springfield also has a strange smell that is uncomfortable to new residents. It is usually about six weeks before they adjust. Springfield is also the first United States city to abandon the Metric system.

Religion

The first church of Springfield.

Religion and faith plays a large role in Springfieldian society. The largest church community appears to be the First Church of Springfield, a Presbylutheran church headed by Reverend Timothy Lovejoy. There is also a synagogue (led by Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky), a mosque, a Catholic church (The Notre Dame of Springfield), an Episcopal church (with vibrating pews), a crystal cathedral, the Cathedral of the Downtown, and a Buddhist temple. Apu, a Hindu, has a statue of the god Ganesh in the Kwik-E-Mart.

Once, many Springfieldians joined a cult known as Movementarianism, but soon left after it was revealed as a fraud.[16] According to Reverend Lovejoy, there is also an alliance of people who split off from the Presbyterians to worship an Inanimate Carbon Rod.[17] Lenny Leonard, Carl Carlson and Lisa Simpson are practicing Buddhists. There is also a Stonecutters Lodge (currently re-named as "The Ancient Society of No-Homers"), of which practically every male in the city (minus Homer Simpson) is a member.

The town government is secular. In 1963, a law was passed which banned praying on city property. Another episode featured a convict who was imprisoned for erecting a nativity scene on city property. Superintendant Chalmers fired new Principal Ned Flanders when he overhears him saying "thank the Lord" over the PA system.[18]

Sports

There are a number of sports teams and sports arenas: the Springfield Isotopes, a baseball team (which once threatened to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico), the Springfield Speedway, a monster truck rally (featuring Truckasaurus), the Springfield Atoms football team, the Springfield Stun arena football team, the Springfield Ice-O-topes hockey team, the Association of Springfield Semi-Pro Boxers, and a dog track. It also use to have a bull fighting ring. There was also once the Mr. Burns Basketball Stadium which was neglected and subsequently converted into a colossal Bee Hive. Springfield curling team managed to get to the Vancouver Winter Olympics and win gold.

Economy

The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant Springfield's main employer

Springfield's economy, although at one time "on the GROW!" and rich to the point that the streets were literally paved with gold, is now floundering. Some heavy industry remains in the town, including factories for Ah! Fudge chocolate, Southern Cracker, fireworks, candy, and boxes, as well as a steel mill. Many Springfieldians are employed by the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

Major industries include nuclear power, heavy manufacturing, Duff Beer, and retail. Many of Springfield's stores are located in the Springfield Mall.

Springfield tried to improve their economy by legalizing gay marriage and gambling.

At one point, Springfield's Economy hit an all time low and was suggested to be even worse than Detroit's economic failure, resulting in the halting of roadkill pickups, significantly reducing the amount of school time, releasing of low level criminals, and said criminals allowed to commit low-level crimes due to the Police lacking the resources and funding to enforce them.[19]

Anthem

The anthem was in the comic Growing Pains. Lisa, Bart, Milhouse, and Terri sing it. It goes like this - "Oh, Springfield, oh Springfield, with your remaining greenery. Oh Springfield, oh Springfield, we love your adequate scenery. We love your air, though it is gray. We try to breathe it, anyway. Oh Springfield, oh Springfield, our dying town we love!"

Infrastructure

Government

Mayor Joe Quimby

The current mayor of Springfield is Joe Quimby, a sleazy womanizing politician whose served at least 5 consecutive terms as mayor unopposed, he once admitted to using the town treasury to fund the murder of his enemies. He was briefly thrown out in favor of Sideshow Bob, but was later re-instated when Bob was impeached and arrested for electoral fraud. His post was threatened by a recall election, but none of the new candidates gained enough of the vote to oust him since the lead candidate who was most voted for was disqualified from the election.

When the mayor briefly skipped town due to missing lottery funds, the town's MENSA chapter (Lisa Simpson, Dr. Hibbert, Lindsey Naegle, Comic Book Guy and Prof. Frink) technocracy took over. They changed clocks to metric time, eliminated the green lights from stoplights, and put the city on the top 300 US cities. It was 299th, above East Saint Louis, Illinois.[20]

In the United States House of Representatives, Springfield was represented by Congressman Bob Arnold, who was later expelled for taking bribes. Horace Wilcox is stated to have been congressman since 1933.[21] After Wilcox's death, Krusty the Clown runs for Congress as a Republican, and wins. He is still seen as a representative.[22]

Laws, Statutes, and Propositions

Gambling is legal in Springfield, as is gay marriage,[23] trade in children and fishing with dynamite. For a brief time, prohibition was brought back ("spirituous beverages are hereby prohibited in Springfield under penalty of catapult").[24] An unusual law from 200 years prior dictates that all ducks must wear long pants.

As is with many other towns there are a number of unusual and outdated statutes in Springfield and its town charter, including "the chief constable shall receive one pig every month and two comely lasses of virtue true," "it is illegal to mail threatening letters and to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling," and "five kicks of the same can shall be considered illegally transporting litter.[25]" The Town Charter also stated that Springfield's mayor, after election, cannot be removed from office... except by a recall election.

Proposition 24, which would deport all illegal immigrants from Springfield, passed with 95% of the public's support,[26] but was overruled at some point. Marge and her family successfully lobby to get Proposition 242, a "Families Come First" grassroots voter initiative.

It originally had a law that promoted Assisted Suicide, but it had recently been overturned due to a majority of Springfield's voters voting against it, which, as soon as it was overturned, Wiggum immediately arrested an assisted suicide practitioner.

Health & Education

Springfield Elemtary School

There are quite a number of public and private schools in Springfield, including two elementary schools (Springfield Elementary School & East Springfield Elementary School), junior high school, high school and the Enriched Learning Center for Gifted Children. There are also a number of colleges, including Springfield A&M, Krusty's Clown College,[27] the University of Springfield, and the unfortunately named Springfield Heights Institute of Technology. A full list of education institutions in Springfield can be found here.

Springfield has many museums, such as the Springfield Museum of Natural History and the Springfield Knowledgeum. It has a library and an observatory.

Springfield has at least one dog obedience school.

Springfield is known to have at least two hospitals- Springfield General Hospital and the rarely seen Springfield Veteran's Hospital which is described to be the worst of the two hospitals.[28]

Transportation

Several highways run through Springfield, including the Michael Jackson Expressway (Interstate Route 401, formerly the Dalai Lama Expressway),[29] the uncompleted Matlock Expressway,[30] Interstate 95, Route 202, Route 88 (goes through Nelson Muntz's neighborhood), Route 13 (goes through West Springfield) and Rural Route 9. There is also a railroad, and an abandoned aqueduct. A Springfield Monorail existed for a very brief time before it was shut down after a disastrous maiden voyage.[31] It has a street called Main Street which used to have a lot of potholes.[32]

The city bus service provides public transit on theroute 22 bus on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; and the 22A bus on Tuesday and Thursday.

Springfield International Airport

Springfield International Airport is the airport that serves Springfield. It has scheduled flights around the US and several other countries including France, Israel, China, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.

There was once a subway line in Springfield, but it is currently abandoned, most likely because the moving train was capable of causing ground tremors above.[33]
A cable-car line was seen in a couple of occasions.